Improvement in harvesting-machines



UNiTnD STATESA PATENT Quince.

MCCLINTOCK YOUNG, JR., OF FREDERICK, MARYLAND.

`| IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTING'LIVIACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 30,999. dated December1S, 1860.

To all when/tit may concern:

Be it known that I, McGLINrocx YOUNG, Jr., of the city and county ofFrederick and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Harvesting-Machines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, vand exactdeseription of theconstruction' and operation of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which-Figure l represents in perspective so much of a harvesting-machine aswill illustrate my invention, and with the finger-bar turned out intoits working position. Fig. 2 represents a similarperspective View,showing the ringerbar as folded up for transportation. represents a rearelevation of a portion of the machine, and Fig. 4represents, on anenlarged scale, a section throughone of the guards and finger-bar. i

Similar letters of reference, where they occur in the separate figures,denote like parts of the machine in all the drawings.

My invention consists, first, in the construction of the finger-bar;second, in the combination of the yielding plate, hinged iinger-bar, andhingedA Atrack-clearer, so as to fold up or swingone upon the other 5third, the combination of the yielding-plate, lever, and braceforholding the finger-bar in a horizontal position, or allowing it to riseor fall at either end; fourth, in the method of uniting the guards tothe iinger-bar.

Io enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

A A represent a pair of carrying-wheels, one or both of which may alsobe drivers, to give motion to the eutterbar and cutters. These wheelsare hung on an axle, B, and to this axle the frame C is connected byplates D,

l Vhen the finger-bar is swung out into workto plates to keep them inplace.

ing position, as shown'in Fig. l, it comes against a stop, c, which maybe a pin or stud.

projecting through and a little beyond the under side of the curvedplate F, where it is caught and held. Two pins or bolts are ,theninsertedthrough the holes d d, which rigidly hold the bar in place, and,if deemed advisable,

around out of the way, and thus possibly prevent the breaking ofthemachine, new pins being easily substituted.

I make the finger-bar out .of two light bars, placed at a short distanceapart,rand fastened By this con struction of finger-bar I avoid allnecessity of drilling bolt-holes to fasten the fingers or guardsthereto, as I pass the bolts through the space e between the two bars.

' H may represent the outside shoe or divider, which is'secured totheouter ends of the two bars that form the finger-bar G. A springplate,I, is fastened to this shoepiece H, and extending in rear ofY it, and tothis spring plate I is pivoted, as at the track-clearer J,

' by means ofa metal piece, g, having astop, h,

on it to prevent the track-clearer from swinging outward beyond acertain distance, while it is free to swing inward.

NVhen the machine is folded up for transportation, as shown in Fig. 2,the track-clearer nioves'into a position nearly parallel with thefinger-bar G, and a supporting-piece; fi, there receives the finger-barand holds it nicely balanced on the main' frame in rear of the machine.v

The guards K, I make and attach to the fin gerbar,`as follows: j is theunder part of the guard, and 7c the cap. A plate, Z, (that sets in arecess made in thetop of the sole-piecej,)

has two recesses, m m, init, into which the two bars that form theiinger-bar t. It has also a center iush piece, n, which passes into thespace e between said two bars, so that it serves as a brace and supportfor said two bars also. side, which iits down over the two barsthat formthe finger-bar, and by means of a single bolt, p, passing, respectively,through j Z, e, and

y 7c, secures and braces the whole firmly together The cap Za has arecess, o,"on its under and to the iingerbar. These guards may be singleorin sections of two, three, or more, and are easily removed and otherssubstituted, there being no bored holes in the finger-bar to match oriit to, so that this construction of iinger-bar not only cheapens thecost of the bar, but also facilitates the attachment of the guardsthereto.

To the plate F there is fastened a lever, L,I

that projects upward and forward into convenient position for theoperator, who rides on the machine, to seize and use forraising up orletting down the finger-bar. To this lever is pivoted a hooked brace, M,that will catch over a flange, o", on one of the plates D, so that thehook, though holding onto the flange, may, notwithstanding, move overit, as the fingerbar rises and falls by the undulations of the ground.Vhen this hooked brace is over the iiange the finger-bar will rise andfall in horizontal planes only; but if the hook M be raised up, as shownby dotted lines in Fig. 3, then the finger-bar can rise at either endwithout rising at its opposite end or both ends together.

To raise and hold up the finger-bar at any fixed distance above theground, the chain s may be hooked to the lever L, to hold it after ithas raised up the finger-bar; or the chain, insteadof being rigid byholding from the frame C, may be hooked to a spring-catch, t,

which will allow the fingenbar to ride easy, connected as it then wouldbe to a spring. o is the pole to which the team is hitched. The risingand falling of the finger-bar is accomplished by the traverse of theshaft E through its slots a a, it having sufficient play at it end mostremote from the plate F to effect thi object, while the movement at itsother en( need not have so much range. The cutter-ba1 and cuttersvibra-te through the space u in thl guards. p

Having thus fully described the nature an( object of my invention, whatI claim thereii as new isp l. Making a iinger-bar for a harvesting-machine out of two bars of about the same siz( and strength, and placed atsufficient distanc( apart to allow the bolts that fasten the fingersthereto to pass through the space between them, and thus save theboring, drilling, and tting of bolt-holes, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the yielding plate F, hinged finger-bar G, andhinged track-clearer J, for the purpose of allowing the linger-bar andtrack-clearer to be swung around, folded up, and carried upon themachine, substantially as described.

3. rlhe combination of the bar E, plate F, lever L, and brace M, forholding the finger- 4bar in a horizontal position, or allowing it torise at either end independently of the other end, substantially asdescribed.

4E. A guard composed of the pieces j 7c Z, made and united to afinger-beam such as described bya single bolt passing through the spacebetween the two bars of which said vfinger-bar is composed, as set forthand described.

MOGLINTOCK YOUNG, J R. Vitn esses:

A. B. SToUGH'roN, E. COHEN.

